Be Not Afraid of Life: In the Words of William James

by William James, John Kaag (Editor), Jonathan van Belle (Editor)

Overview

A compelling collection of the life-changing writings of William James

William James—psychologist, philosopher, and spiritual seeker—is one of those rare writers who can speak directly and powerfully to anyone about life’s meaning and worth, and whose ideas not only change how people think, but how they live. The thinker who helped found the philosophy of pragmatism and inspire Alcoholics Anonymous, James famously asked “is life worth living?” Bringing together many of his best and most popular essays, talks, and other writings, this anthology presents James’s answer to that and other existential questions, in his own unique manner—caring, humorous, eloquent, incisive, humble, and forever on the trail of the “ever not quite.”

Here we meet a James perfectly attuned to the concerns of today—one who argues for human freedom, articulates a healthy-minded psychology, urges us to explore the stream of consciousness, presents a new definition of truth based on its practical consequences, and never forecloses the possibility of mystical transcendence. Introduced by John Kaag and Jonathan van Belle, these compelling and accessible selections reveal why James is one of the great guides to the business of living.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691215372
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	01/07/2025
Pages:	392
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

John Kaag is chair and professor of philosophy at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, external professor at the Santa Fe Institute, and the author of Sick Souls, Healthy Minds: How William James Can Save Your Life, American Philosophy: A Love Story, and Hiking with Nietzsche: On Becoming Who You Are. Jonathan van Belle is an independent scholar of philosophy and the author of Zenithism.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Determinism and Despair

1 Letter to Thomas Wren Ward (1868) 25

2 "The Sick Soul," from The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902) 35

3 "The Dilemma of Determinism" (1897) 53

Freedom and Life

4 "The Will to Believe" (1897) 77

5 "Is Life Worth Living?" (1897) 110

Psychology and the Healthy Mind

6 "What Makes a Life Significant" (1900) 141

7 Chapter IX, "The Stream of Thought," and Chapter X, "The Consciousness of Self," from The Principles of Psychology (1890) 160

8 "The Energies of Men" (1907) 208

Consciousness and Transcendence

9 A Review of Benjamin Paul Blood's The Anesthetic Revelation and the Gist of Philosophy (1874) 235

10 "On a Certain Blindness in Human Beings" (1899) 242

Truth and Consequences

11 "What Pragmatism Means" (1903) 265

12 "The Moral Equivalent of War" (1903) 282

Wonder and Hope

13 "Mysticism," from The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902) 301

14 "Human Immortality: Two Supposed Objections to the Doctrine" (1897) 326

15 "A Pluralistic Mystic" (1910) 338

Index 369

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Want to get to know William James, America’s most-beloved—and perhaps most widely influential—philosopher? This wonderful collection gives us James at his best—provocative, lyrical, inspirational. Whether you are meeting James in an easy chair, in a classroom, or on a ‘ramble,’ as James called the mountain hikes he loved, the encounter will leave you richly rewarded.”—James T. Kloppenberg, Harvard University

“A great collection that lets readers experience James’s philosophy as epistemological tonic, moral orientation, and spiritual regeneration. The brief introductions to the individual selections are compelling and written in sparkling prose.”—Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen, author of The Ideas That Made America